First month of heating: reduced gas usage by 33%

SuzeQStan

@pensionpawn - good to be informed but also still relax and enjoy and be happy in life. Which isn’t possible for many right now. Regular support for organisations like Trussel Trust food banks has never been more vital
https://www.trusselltrust.org/

disclaimer: I’m not associated with TT in any way. Just feels right to mention it. *other food bank
organisations available

badger09

pensionpawn said:

casjen said:

Heinzbean said:

Well done Alley_E

I started a similar energy saving plan.

I turned the flow down on the radiators. Just basically started at the closest rad to the boiler and opened that valve ¼ of a turn next rad ¾ of a turn etc.

Turned the gas regulator knob on the front of the boiler from 8 clock position to 5 o-clock position.

I don’t use the stat . I just turn the stat up for 20 minutes then turn it off.

This saves me money 62cf3 per month using the stat . Manual control 42cf3 per month.

My boiler used to use 0.3cf3 per 20 minutes now it uses 0.2cf3 for 20 minutes. That’s 33% difference. The hot water turned that down so its the right temperature not to add cold water.

I like the way I use my heating I know at 35.31p per Kwh it costs me £0.65p for a 20 minute blast .

Electrically I swapped all my older energy saving lamps (20w) for the newer led lamps (9W),

The kitchen fluorescent light I swapped the 58W lamp for a 20W Led lamp.

So effectively cutting my lighting bill by 50%.

I stopped using the old electric kwh hog oven. And bought a “instant pot duo”.This is 700w . The pot can steam a 3lb chicken in 24 minutes faster than the Kwh hog(2500w).

I turned off my second freezer that was a 25 year old freezer. What s the point of freezing food and never eating it. I don’t leave anything on standby apart from 5g modem which has an my Voip landline running on it.(might put this on a timer ).

When I make tea if its 2 cups I measure 2 cupful's exactly boil the exact amount of water.

Previously on a Sunday when the old cooker was used , extra freezer, old lighting etc it could be

10Kwh for that day. Now im down to below 5 Kwh .Yesterday 3.66 Kwh. Yes I am sad . While I am waiting for the kettle to boil in the morning I pop my head under the stairs and take a daily meter reading takes me less than a minute. No good trying to energy save without being able to check your results.

Meanwhile I look at my neighbour that uses a tumble dryer in the summertime and has every single

light on in the house .

 BIB   Why on earth does this have any relevance whatsoever to you.... Homes are to be enjoyed not stressing yourself to death hunting every nook and cranny to save a penny.. If that's your idea of living then good for you but passing judgement on another persons use of their house...isnt...

I tend to agree. There's certain 'low hanging fruit' like double glazing, cavity / loft insulation, solar panels / battery, a new more efficient boiler, Nest thermostat, curtains on external doors, switching off electrical equipment (with smart switches) overnight when you don't need them. Some of these wins are a large capital expense (with large savings) that take time to repay and others are low capital expense (with lower savings) with more immediate returns. I am a self confessed data junkie and it's a daily routine to check performance characteristics of my house / pension and tweak. I have a new Viessmann (wifi enabled) gas boiler which I can learn about and tweak flow / return temps and watch the modulation etc. I (sadly...) enjoy optimising systems however that was my early career and I'll never change. However I know that when I've found the optimal settings I'll kick back.

BIB

I don't agree that these are 'low hanging fruit' for many households.

The capital outlay is simply unaffordable, regardless of the payback time. And of course, those in rented accommodation don't have those options.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

oh well OP, just shows up what you were wasting previously, good for you.

ariarnia

badger09 said:

pensionpawn said:

casjen said:

Heinzbean said:

Well done Alley_E

I started a similar energy saving plan.

I turned the flow down on the radiators. Just basically started at the closest rad to the boiler and opened that valve ¼ of a turn next rad ¾ of a turn etc.

Turned the gas regulator knob on the front of the boiler from 8 clock position to 5 o-clock position.

I don’t use the stat . I just turn the stat up for 20 minutes then turn it off.

This saves me money 62cf3 per month using the stat . Manual control 42cf3 per month.

My boiler used to use 0.3cf3 per 20 minutes now it uses 0.2cf3 for 20 minutes. That’s 33% difference. The hot water turned that down so its the right temperature not to add cold water.

I like the way I use my heating I know at 35.31p per Kwh it costs me £0.65p for a 20 minute blast .

Electrically I swapped all my older energy saving lamps (20w) for the newer led lamps (9W),

The kitchen fluorescent light I swapped the 58W lamp for a 20W Led lamp.

So effectively cutting my lighting bill by 50%.

I stopped using the old electric kwh hog oven. And bought a “instant pot duo”.This is 700w . The pot can steam a 3lb chicken in 24 minutes faster than the Kwh hog(2500w).

I turned off my second freezer that was a 25 year old freezer. What s the point of freezing food and never eating it. I don’t leave anything on standby apart from 5g modem which has an my Voip landline running on it.(might put this on a timer ).

When I make tea if its 2 cups I measure 2 cupful's exactly boil the exact amount of water.

Previously on a Sunday when the old cooker was used , extra freezer, old lighting etc it could be

10Kwh for that day. Now im down to below 5 Kwh .Yesterday 3.66 Kwh. Yes I am sad . While I am waiting for the kettle to boil in the morning I pop my head under the stairs and take a daily meter reading takes me less than a minute. No good trying to energy save without being able to check your results.

Meanwhile I look at my neighbour that uses a tumble dryer in the summertime and has every single

light on in the house .

 BIB   Why on earth does this have any relevance whatsoever to you.... Homes are to be enjoyed not stressing yourself to death hunting every nook and cranny to save a penny.. If that's your idea of living then good for you but passing judgement on another persons use of their house...isnt...

I tend to agree. There's certain 'low hanging fruit' like double glazing, cavity / loft insulation, solar panels / battery, a new more efficient boiler, Nest thermostat, curtains on external doors, switching off electrical equipment (with smart switches) overnight when you don't need them. Some of these wins are a large capital expense (with large savings) that take time to repay and others are low capital expense (with lower savings) with more immediate returns. I am a self confessed data junkie and it's a daily routine to check performance characteristics of my house / pension and tweak. I have a new Viessmann (wifi enabled) gas boiler which I can learn about and tweak flow / return temps and watch the modulation etc. I (sadly...) enjoy optimising systems however that was my early career and I'll never change. However I know that when I've found the optimal settings I'll kick back.

BIB

I don't agree that these are 'low hanging fruit' for many households.

The capital outlay is simply unaffordable, regardless of the payback time. And of course, those in rented accommodation don't have those options.

the post has a wide range of options that might work and says some are large expense with long payback times and others are quick with lower savings but sooner. not all for everyone. someone in rented might save by turning things off over night or fitting new curtains (or doing what i used to do when i was in a cheap bedsit and pin thin blankets to the inside of my landlords curtains over winter and take them back down again in spring). it takes a bit of thought about how you live and how far you are willing to go (how comfortable you are) but theres a great feeling when youve done something and can see the difference it makes. especially right now with the situation in the uk and feeling powerless in general. 

SuzeQStan

ariarnia said: the post has a wide range of options that might work and says some are large expense with long payback times and others are quick with lower savings but sooner. not all for everyone. someone in rented might save by turning things off over night or fitting new curtains (or doing what i used to do when i was in a cheap bedsit and pin thin blankets to the inside of my landlords curtains over winter and take them back down again in spring). it takes a bit of thought about how you live and how far you are willing to go (how comfortable you are) but theres a great feeling when youve done something and can see the difference it makes. especially right now with the situation in the uk and feeling powerless in general. 

Exactly this! Thanks for posting that @ariarnia - It can be beneficial to compare ourselves to others and say ‘this is what I’ve done’ and at best learn what we could do to modify behaviour.  But then again at worst feel ‘less than’ or left out of the conversation entirely. 

I think most people on these forums want to help others & most of us know that we need to modify our behaviour to protect our world / future generations. But IMO the conversation could be less judgemental & more supportive sometimes.  Again IMO I want to think less about my neighbour using their dryer in summer and instead think more about folk for whom such behaviour is a pipe dream.
sorry OP & everyone for hijacking. I’ll get off the soap box now.

badger09

ariarnia said:

badger09 said:

pensionpawn said:

casjen said:

Heinzbean said:

Well done Alley_E

I started a similar energy saving plan.

I turned the flow down on the radiators. Just basically started at the closest rad to the boiler and opened that valve ¼ of a turn next rad ¾ of a turn etc.

Turned the gas regulator knob on the front of the boiler from 8 clock position to 5 o-clock position.

I don’t use the stat . I just turn the stat up for 20 minutes then turn it off.

This saves me money 62cf3 per month using the stat . Manual control 42cf3 per month.

My boiler used to use 0.3cf3 per 20 minutes now it uses 0.2cf3 for 20 minutes. That’s 33% difference. The hot water turned that down so its the right temperature not to add cold water.

I like the way I use my heating I know at 35.31p per Kwh it costs me £0.65p for a 20 minute blast .

Electrically I swapped all my older energy saving lamps (20w) for the newer led lamps (9W),

The kitchen fluorescent light I swapped the 58W lamp for a 20W Led lamp.

So effectively cutting my lighting bill by 50%.

I stopped using the old electric kwh hog oven. And bought a “instant pot duo”.This is 700w . The pot can steam a 3lb chicken in 24 minutes faster than the Kwh hog(2500w).

I turned off my second freezer that was a 25 year old freezer. What s the point of freezing food and never eating it. I don’t leave anything on standby apart from 5g modem which has an my Voip landline running on it.(might put this on a timer ).

When I make tea if its 2 cups I measure 2 cupful's exactly boil the exact amount of water.

Previously on a Sunday when the old cooker was used , extra freezer, old lighting etc it could be

10Kwh for that day. Now im down to below 5 Kwh .Yesterday 3.66 Kwh. Yes I am sad . While I am waiting for the kettle to boil in the morning I pop my head under the stairs and take a daily meter reading takes me less than a minute. No good trying to energy save without being able to check your results.

Meanwhile I look at my neighbour that uses a tumble dryer in the summertime and has every single

light on in the house .

 BIB   Why on earth does this have any relevance whatsoever to you.... Homes are to be enjoyed not stressing yourself to death hunting every nook and cranny to save a penny.. If that's your idea of living then good for you but passing judgement on another persons use of their house...isnt...

I tend to agree. There's certain 'low hanging fruit' like double glazing, cavity / loft insulation, solar panels / battery, a new more efficient boiler, Nest thermostat, curtains on external doors, switching off electrical equipment (with smart switches) overnight when you don't need them. Some of these wins are a large capital expense (with large savings) that take time to repay and others are low capital expense (with lower savings) with more immediate returns. I am a self confessed data junkie and it's a daily routine to check performance characteristics of my house / pension and tweak. I have a new Viessmann (wifi enabled) gas boiler which I can learn about and tweak flow / return temps and watch the modulation etc. I (sadly...) enjoy optimising systems however that was my early career and I'll never change. However I know that when I've found the optimal settings I'll kick back.

BIB

I don't agree that these are 'low hanging fruit' for many households.

The capital outlay is simply unaffordable, regardless of the payback time. And of course, those in rented accommodation don't have those options.

the post has a wide range of options that might work and says some are large expense with long payback times and others are quick with lower savings but sooner. not all for everyone. someone in rented might save by turning things off over night or fitting new curtains (or doing what i used to do when i was in a cheap bedsit and pin thin blankets to the inside of my landlords curtains over winter and take them back down again in spring). it takes a bit of thought about how you live and how far you are willing to go (how comfortable you are) but theres a great feeling when youve done something and can see the difference it makes. especially right now with the situation in the uk and feeling powerless in general. 

Yes, I understand that. It was the use of the term 'low hanging fruit' to cover all the options listed, that I took exception to. I do agree that there is always something most households can do to reduce their energy usage/costs, without going to the extremes suggested by some posters.

Ally_E.

[Deleted User] said:

Trying to make any usage comparisons with October last year is likely to lead to some very flawed conclusions. It is unseasonably warm. Our gas boiler has yet to come on.

If it is unseasonably cold next month, and I use double the amount of gas than the previous year what do these two months tell me? 

Yes, we are all looking for usage savings but even comparing one Winter season with the next needs to looked at through the prism of different Winters. The previous Winter was unusually mild.

If you read the OP carefully I also mention tracking the weather and average daily temperatures and October 2022 is colder than October 2021 in my area by almost a degree.

markin

With the flow at 45c the hot water tank can't get to 60, So without a strict timer it would run all day trying/

markin

Ally_E. said:

[Deleted User] said:

Trying to make any usage comparisons with October last year is likely to lead to some very flawed conclusions. It is unseasonably warm. Our gas boiler has yet to come on.

If it is unseasonably cold next month, and I use double the amount of gas than the previous year what do these two months tell me? 

Yes, we are all looking for usage savings but even comparing one Winter season with the next needs to looked at through the prism of different Winters. The previous Winter was unusually mild.

If you read the OP carefully I also mention tracking the weather and average daily temperatures and October 2022 is colder than October 2021 in my area by almost a degree.

Has it been dryer this year? Could the house brick still be warmer from the heat waves?  A wet September would mean more water in the bricks, taking more energy to dry them out again.

ariarnia

markin said:

Ally_E. said:

[Deleted User] said:

Trying to make any usage comparisons with October last year is likely to lead to some very flawed conclusions. It is unseasonably warm. Our gas boiler has yet to come on.

If it is unseasonably cold next month, and I use double the amount of gas than the previous year what do these two months tell me? 

Yes, we are all looking for usage savings but even comparing one Winter season with the next needs to looked at through the prism of different Winters. The previous Winter was unusually mild.

If you read the OP carefully I also mention tracking the weather and average daily temperatures and October 2022 is colder than October 2021 in my area by almost a degree.

Has it been dryer this year? Could the house brick still be warmer from the heat waves?  A wet September would mean more water in the bricks, taking more energy to dry them out again.

would wet bricks also hold more heat than dry bricks? air holds heat less well than water.